'Machines' remobilise but more toil to test ageing attack

Not for the last time over the ensuing weeks and months, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc remobilised their weary bodies.

On a sun-kissed Friday morning, the sight of Starc boomeranging a vicious in-bender back into Marnus Labuschagne's pads, while Hazlewood went through his own blowout on an adjacent St George’s Park strip, suggests Australia's opening bowlers have recovered well enough from the type of workload Hazlewood associates more with the early stages of his Test career. 

Pat Cummins was expected to do his own loosening up on match eve after sending down 29 overs in the five-day Durban triumph, the first time the Big Three have all topped that number (Starc and Hazlewood racked up 33 and 32.5 overs respectively) in the same Test since the 2024-25 home series opener against India.

But after a steady diet of fast-forward Tests at home (and sometimes abroad too), Australia's senior seamers are coming to grips with the notion that this could be the new norm over their epic 2026-27 run of matches.

Not only in Gqeberha – statistically South Africa's most spin-friendly venue in recent times and which Hazlewood tipped to provide a pitch similar to Kingsmead's – but also for Australia's ensuing home bout against New Zealand in December-January.

Having winced at Cricket Australia's balance sheet following a pair of two-day Ashes Tests last summer, and then seen a third at Mackay's Test debut in August, chief executive Todd Greenberg hardly needed to open his mouth when he attended a recent curator's conference in Brisbane earlier this year.

"It's been a while since they've seen the CEO come and talk," Greenberg said last week. "I think that maybe sent a message."

But the directive to replicate the type of surface produced in Durban – which Matthew Wade labelled "a classic Test wicket" and the kind Australia have seldom played on in recent times – is certain to stretch a set of bowlers that are defying history by thriving into their mid-thirties.

Particularly given the condensed fixturing that sees this week's Test against South Africa as the second of three played in as many weeks, and will be followed by another 10 squeezed into 14 weeks – four against NZ at home, five in India and then the 150th anniversary Test against England.

"I'd rather it be over in two days like Mackay," Hazlewood said to laughter after recording not only his best career figures (6-49 in South Africa's second innings) but also his biggest workload in a single match since last year's World Test Championship final.    

"I think there's a balance there obviously, like with any sport. I remember when I first started playing Test cricket, the (home) wickets were very, very flat. The average (runs) per wicket was high, the games went five days. It was a real slog through the summer.

"It's probably swung around the last three or four years – I probably missed out on quite a few green seamers over the last few years (through injury). I think we've seen (Sheffield) Shield cricket be a little bit that way as well.

"So I think as long as you have a balance … it can be (different) week in, week out – some spin, some seam, some are flatter. I think that will (favour) a better-rounded player, a better-rounded bowler as well."

Indeed, having been shown up by Bangladesh on a Darwin drop-in devoid of spice only two Tests prior, the elongated Durban Test – Hazlewood's first non rain-affected five-day Test in three years – allowed the class of Australia's bowlers to shine through.

But the prospect of more drawn-out contests is certain to keep Australia's fitness staff and medicos on their toes.

Hazlewood (35) and Starc (36) opening the bowling at Kingsmead marked the sixth time in Australia's past seven Tests that two 35-plus year olds have shared the new ball. (Scott Boland and Michael Neser are the others who did it during last summer's Ashes.)

In 884 Tests played over the preceding 149 years, Australia had only ever done that twice before – Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller were 35 and 36 respectively when they opened up in Karachi in 1956, while Charlie McLeod and Frank Laver were both 35 when given the new ball in a 1905 Lord's Test.

While Hazlewood acknowledges his age and significant recent injury history could see his dozen-year career end any day, he is hoping to channel the same mental clarity other recent elder statesmen have enjoyed in their twilight years.

"From my point of view, I just play every Test match that comes – it could be the last one whenever," said Hazlewood, who has snared 67 Test victims at 14.83 since the start of 2024.

"It was great fun last week playing with the same guys, doing the work in the last innings and taking the 20 wickets for the game on what was a pretty flat wicket for the majority.

"I think you certainly do go through a period there at the end (of one's career) maybe – probably more from a batter's point of view, you've seen people have golden eras at the back end when they say it's the icing on top of the cake.

"They've already done all the hard work, and everything's a bonus from here on in. Usman (Khawaja), even Matty Wade had a nice little period there at the end where I guess they (play with) a bit more freedom.

"It's not going to change their life if they make a hundred or make a duck – a little golden period at the end."

And while unprecedented tenures have not yet dampened the effectiveness of Hazlewood and co, Proteas No.3 David Bedingham hopes repeated spells over the three-match series could in time wear them down.

"In first-class cricket, you face a decent bowler and then there's maybe another decent one, and then maybe you can cash in later with the third or fourth one," explained Bedingham after making 49 and 46 in the series opener.

"But you get through six balls of Cummins, and then you look and it's like, 'Oh, it's Starc', then you get through their spell and then it's like, 'It's Hazelwood and Lyon" – so it's tough.

"It's just about how can we do it for longer … when Kesh and Simon (tailenders Keshav Majaraj and Simon Harmer) were batting, it was maybe around the 68th over of the first innings. I'm not saying they were tiring, but the ball was a lot softer and it looked a lot easier.

"So if we could have maybe been four, five (wickets) down there, then maybe the game would look a bit from a different angle. It's just about trying to take them to 80 overs, 100 overs, 120 overs (in an innings).

"I mean, I know they're machines, but everyone gets tired eventually – well, hopefully."

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

All matches to be broadcast exclusively in Australia on Kayo and Fox Cricket

First Test: Australia won by 214 runs

Second Test: October 18-22, St George's Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7:30pm AEDT (10:30am local)

South Africa squad for second Test: Temba Bavuma (c), Marques Ackerman, David Bedingham, Matthew Breetzke, Corbin Bosch, Gerald Coetzee, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne.

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Sam Harper, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (second Test onwards), Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nic Maddinson, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster